No? Does that mean you could if you wanted to?
What's the policy on plants? Trees? Shrubs? Annuals? Perennials?
Is it 30 days? 90 days? 6 months? A year?
Under what circumstances can you refuse a legitimate return? Any old time you want? With some evidence of fraud?
No over $4.99, huh. How about a $20 cedar? A $600 swimming pool? A $1500 tread mill? Exactly what's the cut-off?
On trees and shrubs (like a cedar), there's a 1 year warranty.
On perennials, there's a warranty for that season.
On Annuals, there's technically no warranty, but if someone buys something from me and it's dead the next day, I'm going to replace it for them.
The $20 cedar is an easy return. Receipt, 1 year warranty.. done.
$600 Swimming pool, there's at least a year warranty on all of them to my knowledge thus far. Some are "repair only", but there are ways around that, such as a concealed damage claim (telling the manufacturer the pool came to the store in that condition, which is usually the case), or a code 50 (customer relations claim) or code 55 (all of the above claim, lol). The trouble with the "repair only" warranties that I see a lot of people complaining about here is that it's the manufacturer who sets those warranties. The store, unlike what some managers seem to think, can make their own decisions. When warranties are cooperative, great. When they're not, that's when we have to use the mechanisms that CTC provided to help out the customer. You buy a pool today, pay that kind of money for it, take it home.. go through all the trouble of getting it together and filling it with a pile of water, only to find out there's a leak.. I'm not going to stonewall you with a "repair only warranty" and a 1-800 number to call if you have a problem with that. Here's your refund, or new pool.
I don't have a "cut-off". Personally, I try to make sure every customer leaves happy, my 4.99 was another example of that. The only thing I'm sticky on is the receipt, I require a proof of purchase. That's the only time where I'm stonewalling a customer, and I think it's a reasonable request to have the receipt (I need to when you bought it, what you paid... or in some isolated cases.. if you paid for it at all, there are thieves out there, the good people unfortunately have to pay for the bad people's mistakes). If you have a receipt, and a legitimate problem... there's always a way to have the customer leave happy.
Like I've said before, bring up any situation and I can tell you how it could be handled. I think any other fellow employees or managers or dealers would agree that there are bad apples in the bunch. Some of the manufacturer warranties are nutty, and a lot of the managers aren't capable to see the shade of grey in between the black and white of the page on that warranty form. It's not perfect, but I've worked enough retail to know (My first management gig was Wal-Mart, then Home Depot, and now CT) that within every store's return policy, there's a demon out there that all customers complain about. It's just reality. To claim CT is far and away worse than everyone else is a fabrication. Saying CT is the worst, is the same as saying "this beer is the best in the world". Until you've tasted them all, you can't make that determination.